A mortar thrown by ISIS fighters lands near a
vehicle belonging to Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division during the
assault to retake the northern city of Mosul, as Iraqi forces continue
the offensive to retake the city's western half on February 25, 2017.
The west bank of Mosul is where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only
public appearance as ISIS leader in July of 2014 and proclaimed a
"caliphate", which at its greatest extent controlled a third of Iraq,
but after more than two years of a government fightback it has become
the last major jihadist bastion in the country.: photo by Aris Messinis/AFP, 25 February 2017

The fight goes on in #mosul as the Iraqi troops advance in the city. #MosulOps: image via Aris Messinis @ArisMessinis, 25 February 2017

The fight goes on in #mosul as the Iraqi troops advance in the city. #MosulOps: image via Aris Messinis @ArisMessinis, 25 February 2017

The fight goes on in #mosul as the Iraqi troops advance in the city. #MosulOps: image via Aris Messinis @ArisMessinis, 25 February 2017

The fight goes on in #mosul as the Iraqi troops advance in the city. #MosulOps: image via Aris Messinis @ArisMessinis, 25 February 2017

Displaced Iraqis flee
their homes due to fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic
State militants, on the western side of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, Feb. 25.
2017.: photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP, 25 February 2017

Iraqi police forces
fire from a humvee at Islamic State positions from a hill side outside
the town of Abu Saif, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 20 February 2017

A child with severe
burns, from scalding water, cries out in pain as a medic cleans his
wounds at a hospital in the Zahra neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday,
Feb. 14, 2017. Doctors in the small clinic in eastern Mosul say that
since the operation to retake the city began months ago, they've only
received intermittent deliveries of supplies.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 14 February 2017

An Iraqi Federal
policeman gives water to one of two handcuffed suspected Islamic State
militants after they were arrested inside their home on the western side
of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27. 2017.: photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP, 27 February 2017

An Iraqi soldier
distribute cigarettes, which were banned by Islamic State militants, to
displaced men who fled their homes due to fighting between Iraqi
security forces and militants as they wait for a security check at an
Iraqi Army base, west of Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 26. 2017.: photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP, 26 February 2017

A civilian kisses a
federal police officer after escaping Islamic State territory in the
town of Abu Saif, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Iraqi forces advanced into the
southern outskirts of Mosul in a push to drive Islamic State militants
from the city's western half, as the visiting U.S. defense secretary met
with officials to discuss the fight against the extremists.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 21 February 2017

Displaced Iraqis flee
their homes due to fighting between Iraqi special forces and Islamic
State militants, on the western side of Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 23,
2017.: photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP, 23 February 2017

Hussein Zeino Danoon
and Shahad Ahmed Abed arrive at the Khazer camp for people displaced
from Mosul for their wedding on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. It's the second
marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of
thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 16 February 2017

Safana Hamad, a
displaced Iraqi mother, holds her daughter Manar's doll and jacket
while mourning over her body, after the four-year-old was killed in an
Islamic State mortar attack while trying to flee fighting between Iraqi
security forces and Islamic State militants, in western Mosul, Iraq on
Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017.: photo by Susannah George/AP, 26 February 2017

Family members grieve
over the body of their father Ahmed Ayad who was killed by Islamic State
mortar attack as they tried to flee the fight between Iraqi security
forces and Islamic State militants, in the western side of Mosul, Iraq,
Sunday, Feb. 26. 2017.: photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP, 26 February 2017

A boy, who was wounded
by shrapnel from a mortar fired by Islamic State militants, cries as he
is treated by doctors at a clinic in the Zahra district in Mosul, Iraq
on Monday, Feb. 16, 2017. Doctors say they receive dozens of people
every day wounded from incoming mortars fired from west Mosul to the
liberated eastern part.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 16 February 2017

Western and Iraqi
paramedics give first aid to a civilian, injured by Islamic State
militant mortars, in western Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 26. 2017.: photo by Khalid Mohammed/AP, 26 February 2017

Iraqi security officers
place a suspected Islamic State group member into the back of a waiting
pickup truck, in east Mosul on Feb. 21, 2017.: photo by John Beck/AP, 21 February 2017

A civilian who escaped
Islamic State territory phones his family he left behind, Tuesday, Feb.
21, 2017 in Abu Saif, Iraq.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 21 February 2017

A child passes a broken
window, damaged by fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State
militants, while Mosul residents play soccer in the background on Feb.
7, 2017. After months of fighting, Mosul residents can finally practice
their favorite game again at the soccer field in the eastern part of the
city—and this time without the changes imposed by Islamic State
militants.: photo by Bram Janssen/AP, 7 February 2017

A
convoy of Iraqi Army tanks and armored vehicles advanced on Monday near
Talul al-Atshana, on the southwestern outskirts of Mosul, in an
offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State.: photo by Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse, 3 March 2017

A
convoy of Iraqi Army tanks and armored vehicles advanced on Monday near
Talul al-Atshana, on the southwestern outskirts of Mosul, in an
offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State.: photo by Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse, 3 March 2017

Displaced Iraqis who just fled their homes are
transported to refugee camps as Iraqi forces battle with ISIS militants,
in western Mosul, Iraq, on February 28, 2017.: photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters, 28 February 2017

An Iraqi special forces soldier carries a woman
injured during a battle between Iraqi forces and ISIS fighters in Mosul,
Iraq, on February 28, 2017.: photo by Goran Tomasevic / Reuters, 28 February 2017

Further along the path... one of the IS fighters crawled out alive.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

From the second shadow he opened fire on the ERD forces. They killed him ten minutes ago. He's still bleeding.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

From
Syria, he was armed with an M16, an AK47 and had four hand grenades inc
1 in his hand. His leg was badly lacerated from the airstrike.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Here an Islamic State permission slip for leave. He didn't make it. Now smeared with his blood.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Here an Islamic State permission slip for leave. He didn't make it. Now smeared with his blood.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

In their weapons pouches they have food supplies ... and more.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Just
to the right, another dead IS fighter he appears to have crawled out
and died here, he has a head wound and extensive shrapnel damage: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

It smells of corpses. To the left of the frame the hand of a dead boy, an IS fighter: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Here an airstrike by the Tigris on an IS position.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Captured Islamic State M16. It still has the blood and hair of the fighter who owned it. One previous owner...: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Captured Islamic State M16. It still has the blood and hair of the fighter who owned it. One previous owner...: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

Captured Islamic State M16. It still has the blood and hair of the fighter who owned it. One previous owner...: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 21 February 2017

That strange feeling ... waking up in a room that IS fighters had been staying in only yesterday.: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 20 February 2017

One thing IS always seem to leave behind when they vacate is a phone charger. That must be annoying..: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 20 February 2017Members of the Iraqi army's 9th Division fire a
rocket launcher from a hill in Talul al-Atshana, on the southwestern
outskirts of Mosul, on February 27, 2017, during an offensive to retake
the city from ISIS fighters.: photo by Aris Messinis/AFP, 27 February 2017